


Wrapped By Butterflies

by GoofyGoldenGirl



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Implied Sexual Content, Manipulation, Psychological Drama, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, Secrets, Sexual Tension, Spoilers, Tension, butterfly motif, gabriel is a manipulative bastard, hand imagery, hawkmoth's lair, the collector - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-23 00:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12493860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoofyGoldenGirl/pseuds/GoofyGoldenGirl
Summary: The butterflies jumbled about. There was no going back.





	Wrapped By Butterflies

There was no going back. The green light on the identity scan had lit up and the gates opened to let Nathalie into the Agreste Mansion. Trying to collect herself one last time, she straightened her purse’s shoulder strap and tentatively took a step. The gates behind her automatically closed. Her usual brisk walk threatened to slow as it dawned on her that there was no going back. She had made it through the front doors, and was heading up to _his_ office to check in for work. 

Nathalie still didn’t know how to process the events that happened the day before. She wanted to tread with caution if she ran into Gabriel. Being the direct person she was, the idea wasn’t exact the most appealing option. She wanted to get to the bottom of what happened yesterday. She wanted _answers._ Answers to questions that she herself was struggling to make sense of. But Gabriel was just as direct, if not so, more than her. One wrong word could lead to hurt feelings, accusations, the loss of her job if it came to that. But the situation couldn’t be entirely avoided. He would have to discuss it eventually. And, she figured as she began to turn the doorknob to his office, she would have more time to think it over if—-

Gabriel was already at his desk. He wasn’t reading the morning paper. Nathalie wasn’t greeted by a curt hello and a wave of his hand as she passed him. The newspaper lay to his left side. He sat up straight with his hands folded in front of him. He looked up, almost as if he had been expecting her for some time. His eyes locked on hers. The tension prickled on her skin, her heart gave a jolt, but she stood her ground and lifted her head up to meet his piercing stare. She shot him an intrigued and knowing gaze and held it until he cleared his throat.

“Good morning Nathalie,” Gabriel smoothly said.

“Good-good morning,” Nathalie hesitantly replied, hoping that he didn’t pick up on the nervousness in her voice. 

Gabriel’s hand extended out and moved to pick up a pen on the desk. Nathalie watched, her eyes wide as the pads of his fingertips tapped at the desk before wrapping around the base of the pen. He cradled the pen in his hand, letting it slide between his fingers before settling it into his grasp. The fingers curled, his thumb hovered over the click-end of the pen and circled the tip before slowly easing the button down. The pen clicked and he grabbed the newspaper.

“About yesterday—“ Nathalie started.

“There’s no need to talk about it,” he said. 

“It wasn’t in my place to follow you down into—“ Nathalie wasn’t sure what to call the space that dwelled at the bottom of the Agreste Mansion. “The basement. I know I was curious, but I overstepped my boundaries. And what I saw and what happened—“ Nathalie felt a warmth creep up her cheeks. 

“It was eventually bound to happen,” Gabriel cut her off. 

_”Eventually?”_ Nathalie dubiously asked. 

“You are a smart woman Nathalie. I knew you would stumble upon these secrets. That, I was prepared to deal with. I am not concerned with what happened. It _happened._ What I am wondering is if I can _trust_ you.”

Nathalie paused to let his words sink in. She gazed up again with a determined expression. 

“A hundred and ten percent sir.”

“Good. That will be all,” he waved his hand to dismiss her. 

Nathalie nodded. She turned and went over to her desk to set down her things.

_________________________________________________________________________________ 

_It wasn’t the first time that Nathalie noticed that Gabriel had disappeared, but it was the first where she saw it happen before her eyes. Armed with her tablet in hand, she had come to his office to relay one of Adrien’s many requests to move the events on his schedule about. The office door was open and she did not bother to knock. What she saw was a scene she saw many times before: him standing right in front of the portrait of his wife, with his back towards her. She picked up her pace, and the first syllable of his name was just about to make its way up and out of her mouth when he did something that made her stop in her tracks. His hands shot up. They pressed against where his wife’s stomach would be and slid up and out to the sides. He stroked and lingered on the tiny boxes that made up his wife’s dress. His palms jutted out and his fingers flexed. Nathalie slid back in a panic. What normally would send the butterflies tumbling about her stomach snapped their wings in half and let them sink to the bottom where they weighed her down. The portrait’s eyes were lifeless, her figure was forever fixed in place, but it felt as intimate of a moment as if Nathalie had walked in on the both of them in person. Then Gabriel’s fingers pushed in. There came a beep. The spot where Gabriel was standing miraculously began to detach from the floor and descend. Nathalie let out a shout. She rushed forward, but Gabriel was gone._

_____________________________________________________________________________________ 

Something on the security monitor had caught Gabriel’s attention. She watched as his hand pressed down on the computer mouse to flip back and forth between the pictures. His eyes narrowed. Lips stretched out into a sneer. There was a flash of fury in his eyes before he forced it to freeze over. He gazed up and curled his pointer finger to beckon her over.

“Nathalie. Come take a look at this.”

Nathalie went over and stood behind him. She glanced over his shoulder to get a better look at what he was seeing. Her lips pursed up in surprise. Her hand clenched down on his shoulder. Pictures of Adrien standing in front of the opened safe behind the portrait of Gabriel’s wife were displayed on the screen. A closeup of his face from the camera in the safe. One of him holding a brownish-red book, another of him putting it inside his fencing bag. It was then that Nathalie realized that she was standing too close to her boss. She distanced herself from him. Her hand curled in as if it were still on his shoulder before she lowered it by her side.

“That can’t possibly be Adrien,” she said in disbelief. 

“I am disappointed,” he understated. 

“Adrien is a good kid. He wouldn’t think about going through someone else’s things in a million years, nevertheless _steal._ It’s unlike him,” Nathalie pointed out. 

“You never know a person’s true intentions Nathalie, especially of a boy his age. Teenagers are good at hiding things they don’t want the authority figures in their life to know about. What you see day in and day out while working with him is just a _mask_ that he wants you to buy into to. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other shenanigans that he is secretly getting up to.”

Nathalie was shocked by his words. She opened her mouth to speak, to counter his point by proving that Adrien was one of the most honest people she had met. But he cut her off again.

“I am disappointed. Very disappointed. That book belonged to my wife you know,” he added as an aside.

He stared _right_ into her eyes.

It took her off guard. The matter of fact tone, the intense gaze, the way he tapped his finger on the ball of the computer mouse made the butterflies jumble about inside of her. She forgot what she had planned to say. She gazed back, confused, _flustered_ by his strange response.

“I think you told me that before,” she hastily said. Her cheeks were burning red as she averted his gaze. 

“I mentioned it in passing,” he replied before turning back to the screen.

___________________________________________________________________________ 

_Nathalie held the tablet in a tight grip. Her eyes gazed back and forth from the portrait to the spot where Gabriel had once stood, that now had reappeared from below and locked back in its place. She blinked, dumbfounded. Where did Gabriel go to? Why would he install an elevator feature that could only be activated by the portrait? Would this explain his constant absences whenever she tried to get a hold of him? Curiosity pushed Nathalie forward. The tablet now lay on a nearby chair. She came to a halt. Her feet slid into the position she had seen Gabriel take, her hands reached out to touch the oblong shapes that blended together in shades of gold, brown, and blue. Her fingers pressed down, three at a time, moving up, down, back up. Nothing worked. She tried again, pressing down harder, varying the shapes to get better results. And then she felt the ground beneath her shake. She was lurched forward then back. Her arms shot out to steady herself, her heart climbing up her throat, bracing for the fall but none came. She was moving down, down into the depths of the unknown, where Gabriel and his secrets lay._

____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

A green check mark flashed on the tablet’s screen to indicate that the transfer had been successful. Gabriel unplugged the tablet’s cable from the computer and picked it up. He quickly glanced over to make sure all of the security footage was in the camera app and then held the tablet out to Nathalie. Just as she was about to take it, his hand slid closer to hers. Her hand curled as she felt his fingertips brush briefly against her skin. The butterflies fluttered about. The urge to reach out was strong but she pulled back. Gabriel didn’t respond. He moved away from the desk and started to the office door. 

“I was thinking,” he began to think out loud. “I’d never thought the more perfect opportunity would come.”

“For what?” Nathalie asked. 

“I always had my doubts about letting him go to school. Adrien is too emotional and naive to know what’s best for him. I knew from the start that placing him in a building with a bunch of rebellious, hormonally- addled teenagers would end up _corrupting_ his very core and lead to a _catastrophe._ I can’t have him _keeping secrets_ from me or _acting out._ He must be punished for his actions before he is lead even further _astray._ I don’t want to find him one day looking more like _something the cat dragged in_ than my own son.”

Nathalie pondered over his strange reasoning. Gabriel was an overprotective father, but even a close minded man like him had to accept that his son would eventually grow up and become his own man. Surely, he must remember how difficult adolescence was for him to understand and even accommodate Adrien’s push for independence. But perhaps it wasn’t all clear cut. There was something about his words that made her think twice. She suspected that he had phrased them the way he did on purpose. Just like how he intentionally left his office door open the day before to lead her to him in the basement. 

“Why do you _really_ want Adrien back home?” She questioned.

He turned. His lips stretched up into a smug grin.

“Oh Nathalie. You are a very _smart_ woman,” he repeated his words from their conversation earlier. “I’m sure that if you were smart enough to jump to the conclusion you must have reached yesterday that you would be able to understand about my concern for Adrien.”

________________________________________________________________________________

_Blue light filtered into the vast space from the circular stain glass window opposite her. Nathalie gingerly took a step forward. The sharp click-clack of her heel echoed off the walls. At the sound, a swarm of white butterflies appeared from nowhere and charged at her. Nathalie skidded back with a shout. The butterflies rapidly circled her. Hands shot up to batt them off. Her fist clenched, foot kicked, back and she broke out into a sprint. The butterflies pursued her, huddling close together to increase their speed, appearing to merge into one giant butterfly. Nathalie squeezed her eyes shut. Her mouth opened to scream. Hands covered the top of her head in anticipation of the attack to come. But suddenly, the butterflies stopped. The sound of a metal cane striking the floor broke through the buzz of beating wings. Nathalie opened her eyes. She looked to see that the butterflies were now tamely fluttering about the walls of the room. Right in front of the window stood a tall man dressed in an elegant purple suit. He cast his cane aside and stepped right underneath the light. The butterflies in his path all scattered. Nathalie got a clearer view of the man. His electric blue eyes that had gazed upon her thousands of times before, stuck out from the metallic silver of his mask. His thin lips curled up into a grin as he took notice of her. She lifted her head to meet his gaze and said with certainty:_

_”Gabriel.”_

_” **Nathalie,”** He crooned in a low voice. _

_Nathalie gasped as she watched Gabriel extend his hand out to her. His arm straightened, hand recoiled from its cupped position to lay flat out. His fingers slowly uncurled and caressed the fabric of his gloved hand before coming to rest. The butterflies fluttered again inside her. They pushed her forward with their wings._

________________________________________________________________________________ 

Gabriel was already at the door. He reached out and grasped the side of the door jamb. He glanced back at her.

“Nathalie? We have a big day ahead of us. Are you coming?” 

_She felt as if she sprouted a pair of butterfly wings of her own. She was lifted up, slowly floating along until the wings spread up and out. A jolt back, forward, she was then soaring, reaching new heights that she thought she would never climb to. The wings curled and arched, sending the thousands of butterflies that dwelled at the bottom of her stomach in to a frenzy. They frantically surged along, helping to pull her up. She was going higher, higher, **higher—**_

Nathalie rolled her shoulders back. She cradled the tablet and her fingers gripped the edges. She met Gabriel’s eyes again. Her own gaze was unwavering, with an intensity that rivaled his own. She rushed forward, lips parted to give him her answer:

**“Yes.”**


End file.
